THE QUEENS HEAD/CAPONES
Station Road

The Stowmarket pub "The Queens Head" has recently undergone renovation and reopened under the new name of "CAPONES" Thus ending a three hundred year history of the name in the town.
Which Queen the pub was first named after we do not know, it could date back to Queen Elizabeth the First, but the first mention of it that I have found is in 1679 when two soldiers who were billeted there died in the outbreak of small pox that also killed several other soldiers billeted at various inns in the town, their names are recorded in the Parish Burial Register.
There is then a gap in our knowledge until in 1714 we learn that Elizabeth Lucas widow was the occupier, women often continued to run inns after the death of their husband, in fact it is likely that they had previously been in charge of the running of the establishment, the husband following another trade, hence in directories Innkeepers and beerhouse keepers are often listed as having another occupation as well. Also in this year we see in the overseers accounts an entry for Expenses for meetings “with the town men” and “meeting about the poor” both held at the inn. Two years later George Taylor is named in Insurance records in occupation of the Queens Head when the then owner John Harvey of Colchester, gentleman insures the Inn.
In 1750 William Bunn left it in his will to his son in law William Aldrich when the occupants were John Nunn, Benjamin and Elizabeth Shipling an elderly couple were also living there. William Aldrich in his will made in 1762 in turn left the inn to his son Pelham, at this time John Nunn was still in occupation, also a Richard Willet. Pelham Aldrich described as a brewer took possession after his fathers death in 1767, the tenant then being a Thomas Flood. The inn eventually passed to John Cobbold along with the other inns in the town that had belonged to the Aldrich family.
The Aldrich family had been brewers, malsters and owners of various Inns in the town for three generations. John Aldrich had married one of the many daughters of John Cobbold, brewer of Ipswich (Cobbold had twenty children !). Aldrich was in debt to his father in law to the sum of twelve thousand pound and in 1805 Cobbold accepted the Aldrich inns and other property in lieu of payment.
In an advertisement in the Bury and Norwich Post in 1793 Mr. Riches Fox of the Queens Head is said to be retiring from business "on account of Mrs. Fox`s declining health". The inn is also described as being "on the corner of Ipswich, Bury and Stowupland Streets and opposite Finborough Road", the present building is of course situated a short distance down what is now Station Road and was then Stowupland Street, so it would seem that it has been re-built at some time since, the present building appears to date from the early to middle nineteenth century and the old building that stands on the corner of Bury Street may have been part of the original Inn, indeed an undated 19th century drawing of Stowmarket Market Place seems to show an inn sign on this building. The archway leading from Bury Street could have been the entrance to the yard the remains of which is the space between the present Queens Head and the rear of the buildings fronting onto Bury Street.
Mr. Fox seems to have been succeeded by William Ward who may have been a keen huntsman as in the Bury and Norwich Post of 4th July 1804 he advertises for sale "about 5 couple of Harriers". The Queens Head does not seem to have been one of the premier inns of the town which at this time were the Kings Arms and the White Hart both in Ipswich Street until the latter inn was closed in 1808, the name being transferred to an Inn in Crowe Street. However the Queens Head was used for meetings, auctions and for entertainment, John Green Crosse, an apprentice surgeon of Stowmarket writes in his diary in 1806.”Went to the Queens Head at 7 o`clock to see Mr. Coans wonderful performance in cards, balancing, tumbling, hornpipe dancing & came home after 9.” In 1809 a John Rowling took the inn, but his tenure was short for in 1812 George Ranson previously proprietor of the Crown and Anchor in Ipswich took over. At this time the coach to the Bull Inn in Aldgate, London used the Queens Head as a staging post. George Ranson seems to have stayed until about 1817 and was followed by a series of innkeepers of whom little is known.
John Smith is known to have been there in 1819 & 1820, in 1821 the inn was advertised to let and the next innkeeper was Samuel Bird followed by James and Eliza Quilter, Shadrach Sparrow, and Edward Barritt. One of the longer tenancies was that of Charles Williams from 1854 until 1866, Williams is also listed in directories as being Tax and Rate Collector and Assistant Overseer of the poor, he was succeeded by William Game, Game`s son Alfred became landlord at The Dukes Head in Stowmarket for many years from about 1900. William Game was succeeded in 1883 by John Thurston.

 From the beginning of the 20th century the following have been tenants at the Queens Head,
1900 William Syer Ling
1906 Herbert Percy Jennings

1913  Joseph Arthur Oliver
1937 William Fish
1954 Ernest Robert Pells
1957 Arthur Edward Ames
1968 D.M.Hammond
1978 E.Painter
1981 B.Osborne
1997 re-opened 21st May as CAPONES
1997 J. Hewitt

STOWMARKET HISTORY AND HERITAGE
 2007
email neil@stowman.plus.com